WASH facilities for girls

When speaking about schools and girls, there are two big
problems which perhaps threaten the security of girls and the
environment. These problems ocurr during menstruation, and deal
with unhygienic water and sanitation. How do these problems
correlate? Here, we will not discuss menstruation in detail because
that is for female-only topics. Menstruation is always faced by
some girls in school who are teenagers and in puberty phases. In
these phases, most girls sit and study in school. During
menstruation, girls attitude might be different, like they might be
ashamed, and they will alter the common condition to close the
menses.

Apparently, many schools and universities don’t provide and/or
have sufficient water, sanitation, disposal facilities and
supplies for managing proper hygiene management. If there are no
facilities to handle menses, it generates a negative effect and
can create harmful diseases.

The problem always happens in rural and remote areas such as in
primary and secondary schools. So, it is needed the solution to
mitigate the negative impacts that will appear. The lack of
education on understanding the importance of health and water and
sanitation causes the ignorance of school stakeholders and girls
towards menstruating. There are four recommendations to tackle the
problems, which are:
1. WASH facilities in school. Money is important, but the most
important thing to overcome this problem is by providing complete
structures and infrastructures- such as clean toilets, pads, soap,
hygienic water, cloth and other supporting facilities.
2. Access to materials during and beyond menstruating. Schools
should provide girls easy access to some materials to clean up
menstruation.
3. Information on menstruation and menstrual hygiene management.
Who will be taking responsible for giving information about
menstruation? Parents should provide prior knowledge so girls will
be prepared for it. On the other hand, teachers must teach them to
understand menstruation cycles.
4. Support for girls on managing menses in school. Support which
will be given to girls is always in for sharing between the subject
and the other. Here, they will feel comfortable talking with
someone righteous about menstruation, like how to use pads and
sanitation.